Kathleen Mallamo: Kid Street Learning Center
Our guest speaker for May 23rd was Kathleen Mallamo, Principal and Executive Director of Kid Street Learning Center. Kathleen has also been a teacher at Kid Street for 10 years!
Kid Street is an independent charter school located at the old Lincoln Elementary School site. It was founded in 1992 by Linda Conklin as an after school art-based center. In 1999 Norma and Everett Person helped move the school to the Lincoln Elementary site.
The school’s motto is “Teach to the heart and the mind will follow.” The school has 7 classrooms with 130 students. The students are mostly vulnerable; 19% of the students are homeless and 74% live in poverty. It also has a high incidence of parental problems, including addiction and abuse. Kid Street provides these children with an innovative elementary academic curriculum and a unique additional “basic needs” program.
It provides food for all children, including snacks, lunch, and a garden that helps grow food to feed the kids. It also provides clothing for children and their families. Kid Street has an important community support program to help it with these basic needs and a great volunteer program for those who wish to become more involved. And, Kid Street needs a variety of improvements, including kitchen improvements.
Our intrepid Activities Director, Jennifer Adams, asked Kathleen if we could work with her on projects! Thank you Kathleen for such a great and informative talk. You are doing great work and we applaud you and your efforts. We’ll be in touch!
